


If you died I’d hope you’d haunt me

by just_an_average_human



Category: Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Again I tagged it as Awtto so that we can grow the amount of fics under that ship, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Murder, Or just because they’re best friends, Scars, Trigger warnings:, Witchcraft, You can read it as Awsten doing everything in this for love, its not as graphic as the tags make it seem but please just be warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_an_average_human/pseuds/just_an_average_human
Summary: Awsten never expected his band years to be like this. 28 years old and already having committed several heinous crimes.Why? You may be asking. Let’s go back to roughly a decade earlier...
Relationships: Awsten Knight/Otto Wood
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	1. Sunset

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blackcloudbyjuly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackcloudbyjuly/gifts).



> Oh boyyyy is this one different to all the rest. I don’t consider to to be A LOT darker than some of my other fics, but it does include more heavier and mature topics.
> 
> Thank you so much to Alexis (blackcloudbyjuly) for bringing this concept to me, and discussing it with me!! I always love when I can bounce ideas off of someone else!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @average-human-being

This wasn’t how Awsten expected his band years to go. 28 years old and already having committed several heinous felonies. Hey, at least his alter ego name fits now, right? Back to the point. He was currently freezing his ass off in some dark alleyway, at the end of January, in some English city where the band was due to play in a few days.

Why? You may be asking. Let’s go back to around a decade earlier.

—————

Band practice had ended early, and Awsten and Otto were chilling in the main room, watching TV. Awsten’s parents had gone away for the weekend, and his sister was staying over at her friends for a few nights. This left Awsten with the house to himself, for the next few days.

Otto had planned to stay over, the whole time, seeing as they hadn’t had much time lately to hang out, other than band practice.

As the sun began to set, Otto suggested that they climb onto the roof, just as they’d done many times, to watch it. Awsten agreed, and the two headed around the back of the house, to the base of the tree in the garden. The only way to get onto the roof was to climb up the relatively tall tree, take a leap of faith, and pray that you land safely.

Awsten went first, as he needed Otto to boost him up to the first branch. His upper body strength wasn’t the best, but he was working on it. Once up into the tree, Otto joined him. The two sat for a while, before making their way towards the top of the two story house.

Now, it’s worth noting that Houston experienced some pretty heavy rainfall over the past few days. Evidence of it was still pooled into the dips of any uneven surface, as well as making any wooden object slightly slippery.

Awsten made it onto the roof safely. He turned to watch Otto join him, but instead witnessed his best friend slip on the slimy wood, and miss the branch he’d grabbed for. He watched in shock as Otto crashed into a few other stable branches, before landing on the grass below.

He clambered down from the roof, and rushed over to where Otto was lying on the grass, arms and legs covered in scrapes, and breathing shallowly. Awsten knelt down beside him. Tears began to roll down his face, as he sat quietly next to his dying friend. 

In a situation like this, any logical person would have immediately called 911. But Awsten wasn’t thinking. His mind was blank with panic, as he watched Otto’s chest rise and fall for the last time.

They had missed the sunset, and it was getting dark now.

He knew he couldn’t leave Otto’s body outside, so the only logical thing was to bring him inside. Again, Awsten’s mind was blank with panic, so calling the authorities didn’t even occur to him.

His body went onto autopilot as he dragged Otto inside, through the house, up the stairs, and to his bedroom. He lay Otto on the bottom bunk, before consulting the internet.

Now, you may also be wondering, _“What’s he gonna find online?”_. Well, as a part of their ‘sleepover ritual’, when they’re both left alone, the two like to mess around with a Ouija board. Nothing ever really comes of it, other than Awsten joking around to either entertain or try and spook Otto. 

However, on the rare few occasions that they take it seriously, they’ve managed to make contact with a few spirits. One of whom tried to convince them to resurrect them. The boys had gotten as far as researching how exactly to conduct a resurrection, before realising that maybe this _wasn’t_ the greatest idea, and fled the area

They vowed to never again speak of the incident nor to _actually_ try and resurrect the dead.

 _“I’m sorry, buddy. This has to be done.”_ Awsten thought, as he landed on the correct page of the deep, dark web.

—————

The ‘ritual’ Awsten decided on was one that the spirit had guided them to using. Why he was trusting a ghost, he may never know. But he was willing to do it to get Otto back.

First, he had to complete the steps;

  * Make sure the body is present
  * Light a candles to ward off any wild spirits or demons that may try to interfere 
  * Place the glyph on the body
  * Place a human sacrifice (or equal to) into an identical glyph 
  * Say the incantation



**  
FAILURE TO COMPLETE ALL STEPS CORRECTLY MAY RESULT IN THE TERMINATION OF ALL PRESENT LIFEFORMS.**

That warning concerned Awsten. He had to get this right, first time, or they’d both be dead. 

_“At least we’d be together, if that happens,”_ he thought, before shaking his head as though to remove it from his mind. “Shit, that was dark.”

—————

Half an hour later, one top to bottom search through his house for a candle, and multiple failed glyphs later, and Awsten was finally ready. Jet sat at his side, as he began the ritual. He only brought her for extra support. Plus, witches have cats right? And what he was doing was technically witchcraft.

More research into the ritual had concluded that a blood sacrifice from the one conducting it was an adequate substitute for a human sacrifice, just as long as the performer's body _wasn’t_ inside the glyph. Awsten let out a quiet shout as he drew the knife across his left palm, and let the blood drop into the paper glyph on the floor.

He wrapped the wound, and began to read the words that he’d never had to pronounce in his life. One wrong slip up, and everyone in the room wouldn’t see the light of tomorrow.

As he finished reading off the words, the candle flame grew, the two paper glyphs began to burn, and Otto’s body began to glow, before a bright white light engulfed the room.

—————

Awsten was woken by Otto leaning over him, shaking his shoulder, and calling his name. “-sten Awsten. C’mon, buddy, it’s morning.”

He stared up at Otto in disbelief. Last time he’d seen him alive, he was lying on the grass, grasping on to life. And now he was here. Standing over him as though nothing had happened. _“Fuck, am I dead too?”_

“Oh thank f- ouch!” As Awsten tried to sit up, he noticed the sharp pain searing up his arm from his hand. He lifted his hand to his face to inspect the blood covered bandages.

“Yikes, I’ll get something for that,” Otto said, leaving the room, and coming back with a wet cloth and fresh bandages. He took Awsten’s injured hand, and began to clean it up. Awsten continued to stare in disbelief. “Dude, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Oh, oh it’s nothing,” he replied, trying to play it off, “I just don’t remember what happened.”

“Me neither. I think we went to watch the sunset, but after that it’s blank.” He locked eyes with Awsten, “It’s a shame, I wanted to remember that.” 

Awsten didn’t.

“Yeah, I guess you must have eaten too much Chipotle, and blacked out,” Awsten joked, trying to lighten the mood

“Ha, I guess so.” He pulled the bandage tighter, causing Awsten to wince in pain. “Ok, done.”

Awsten inspected his hand, “I’m impressed.”

“Yeah well, you don’t climb enough trees and _not_ know how to fix yourself up.”

He watched as Otto left the room with the extra supplies, leaving Awsten to wonder;

_“What the fuck have I done!?”_


	2. Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As it turns out, not all solutions are permament...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd originally planned to post a chapter of this per week, but I'm far too excited to see what people think of this fic, to wait that long between installments!!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @average-human-being

The next month carried on as normal, just with a few ups and downs. They found a new guitarist who seemed chill, and was willing to deal with both Awsten and Otto’s antics. As well as letting go of their bassist, as he wasn’t as committed to the band as Awsten would have liked.

They knew Geoff was a keeper (for the band) when they enjoyed his company outside of band practice. It wasn’t long before all three were inseparable.

However, as the end of the month drew closer, Otto began to gradually become more and more ill-looking. He was tired and unmotivated, and that just didn’t sit right with Awsten. Eventually, during the last week of the month, he called and said he was too sick to come to practice. 

They suggested visiting him to keep him company. But Otto didn’t want either of them getting ill. Awsten knew that there wasn’t a chance of that happening.

—————

Awsten peered inside as he gently knocked on the window. When Otto finally opened it, he looked like hell. He appeared tired, and his skin was pale, grey, and sunken.

For lack of better words, he resembled a corpse.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Otto whispered as Awsten climbed through the window and set his backpack down.

 _“I’m here to save your goddamn life, dumbass,”_ he desperately wanted to say, but was too worried to let the truth come out. “To keep you company.”

Otto shuffled back over to the bed, and sat down. “Dude, I don’t want you getting sick too.”

“Eh, I’ll be fine.” Awsten joined him on the bed, “What do you wanna do… within reason.”

“Sleep.”

“Oh, _should_ I leave then?”

Otto lay down on his back, “Join me.” He made grabby motions towards Awsten.

Awsten looked back at him, quizzically. Otto wasn’t one for human contact. Hugs were enough for him. And yeah, they’d shared a bed together at hotels, but they kept their distance. Whatever Awsten had caused had made him delirious, and only he could fix this.

“C’mon, I’m cold. And these blankets aren’t doing shit.” Awsten lay down next to him, their arms touching as they both stared up at the ceiling- barely visible in the dark.

There was something both weirdly awkward and intimate about the whole situation. One wrong move, and that could end in Awsten losing Otto, again. Hell, if Awsten didn’t do something soon, he was gonna lose him for good this time.

He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice that Otto had dozed off. Awsten wouldn’t have mind staying like this, all night, but now was the time to do the only thing he assumed would work. He did as he’d done last time: light a candle, place the glyphs, blood sacrifice, and say the incantation. The only difference this time was that he’d pre-drawn the blood, and placed it into a tiny jar

He lay back down next to Otto, and began to say the chant. Just like last time, the flame grew, the glyphs burned, and Otto glowed. There was a flash of white light, and Awsten was out.

—————

Awsten was woken by a bright light shining directly in his face, _“Oh god, I really am dead, this time,”_ he thought as he opened his eyes, and looked around. He was still in Otto’s room, on Otto’s bed, lying directly next to him. He attempted (and failed) to lift Otto’s arm off his chest, but it wouldn’t budge. This was a new development in their friendship, and, although Awsten didn’t mind it, he also wanted to be gone by morning, as to not raise any suspicions with both his and Otto’s family.

Eventually, after a few more attempts, he managed to free himself, pick up his backpack, climb out of the window, and drive home. Awsten hoped that Otto was too out of it to remember him even showing up last night. Only time would tell.

—————

Later that day, Awsten received a text:

😍: _Hey, I’m feeling a lot better. You up for a quick practice session?_

 **_Me:_ ** _Sure, get your ass down here asap :}_

_🎸: I’ll be there at 2_

😍 _: Ok, I’ll see you all then._

Awsten sighed in relief. Otto was ok.

—————

Over the next few years, at the end of every month, Awsten would sneak into Otto’s house, and perform the ritual. He didn’t see it as full on breaking and entering, as technically he wasn’t breaking anything- just fixing a mistake.

However, after a few years, his blood stopped working. Otto would become more dead-like quicker, and Awsten would have to repeat the ritual more frequently. Eventually, he had to find a different solution.

—————

They were touring for their first album when Awsten decided to do something that could change his life for the worst. As everyone slept in the bus, he snuck out, and walked through the pitch black to the nearest town.

There, he waited in a dark corner of a desolate street, waiting for his first victim. He really didn’t want to have to do this, but it was his last option if he didn’t want Otto to die.

Eventually, someone unsuspectedly came walking towards him. He readied the hunting knife that they had with them, before grabbing the person and dragging them into a nearby alley. 

The kill was quicker than he’d anticipated, and the stranger lay cold on the floor, blood pooling from the slice wound. Awsten lay the glyph in their blood, before ducking behind a corner, and beginning the incantation.

After the blast of white light, Awsten fled the scene, without a trace. When he got back to the tour bus, everyone was still asleep. He’d gotten off lucky.

—————

It became like clockwork, the killings. Always the same time of month, always the same weapon, and always the same reason. The murders baffled the local authorities, and he got off scot-free each time. He began keeping track of them on necklaces’ he wore. A new foot, for a new victim.

Before his move to LA, Awsten got Otto a present. It was a necklace with the resurrection glyph as the charm. Of course, Otto didn’t know what it meant, Awsten just told him it was for luck and to never take it off. He agreed. Now Awsten could perform the rituals remotely.

————

Which brings us to today. Awsten stands in a dark alleyway, knife hidden, waiting for his next unfortunate victim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> I hope that you stick around for the final chapter!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @average-human-being
> 
> I really love it when I'm able to add real life elements into fics. In the case of fics like these, knowing bits of "Awtto lore" always comes in handy when doing so!!


	3. Sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Awsten comes clean about the last decade...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo last chapter!! I hope this ending lives up to everyone’s expectations, I know some have been excitedly waiting for it!!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @average-human-being

When it came to killing, Awsten wasn’t actually too fond of physically hurting his victims. As long as the paper glyph was placed somewhere on them or in their blood, the ritual would work. 

He hates to admit it, but it was a lot easier to place a glyph on someone’s sleeping body, and say to the incantation, than to kill them in cold blood.

That’s why the murders have since baffled the authorities. The victim's blood has always been completely drained, and there is no trace of another person. He was a shadow in the night.

—————

Eventually, he heard approaching footsteps. They sounded slow and irregular- probably a late night go-er from one of the nearby pubs.

As the footsteps grew louder, Awsten reached out of the shadows, and dragged them into the darkness. The street was abandoned enough that no one would hear their fighting screams, that would eventually die down after a few seconds. It was sick and twisted, and he was well aware of it. But the memory of Otto lying dead in his backyard is always enough of a push to do this- to prevent that from ever happening again.

Awsten’s gloved hands and hoodie sleeves were covered his victim’s blood, as he lay the glyph over their eyes. He didn’t want to see their face as he was doing this. That made him feel worse about everything.  _ “I’m so sorry it had to be you.”  _ Is something he thinks every time he does this. After a while, it started to lose its meaning.

Just like every other time, he ducked behind a nearby dumpster, said the incantation (which he’d memorised by now), and fled the scene- without leaving so much as a neon green hair.

Now began the long walk back to the hotel.

—————

When Awsten walked back into the hotel room, the lights were on. That wasn’t a good sign. What also wasn’t a good sign was Otto sat on his bed, completely zoned out. The shutting of the room door seemed to bring him back to reality, as his head snapped over to where Awsten was. A wide eyed, freaked out look was plastered all over his face. That also wasn’t a good sign. Nothing ever seemed to shake Otto.

Awsten walked over and sat on the edge of Otto’s bed, “You doing alright?”

Otto shook his head, “My necklace started to feel like it was burning. And- and that candle you lit started to get really bright.” He pointed across the room to the now extinguished candle. “And my whole body started to tingle and glow.”

_ “Fuck, ok. Play it off like it’s a dream. That’s what he always thinks it is,”  _ Awsten thought. “Hey, it was probably just a dream. A pretty wild one, but just a dream.” He stood to make his way over to the bathroom, but Otto caught his arm.

“Dude, I swear it w- what the fuck?” He lifted his hand off Awsten’s sleeve, “Is this blood?!”

_ “Fuck!” _

—————

Twenty minutes later, and after Awsten had had time to clean up, the two of them were sat, cross legged, on one of the beds. Otto waited for Awsten to begin his explanation into  _ everything  _ that had happened.

“Ok.” Awsten rubbed his face as all the memories he’d tried to block out came flooding back. “Remember when we were, like, 19, and we climbed onto the roof to watch the sunset?”

Otto tilted his head and nodded, but was confused as to where Awsten was going with this.

“It was, like, a week before Geoff joined the band.”

That jogged Otto’s memory, “Oh yeah. We woke up, and couldn't remember the night before?”

“Yeah… about that.” Guilt spread across Awsten’s face, “I remember it.”

“I thought you said-“

“I lied. I didn’t tell you what actually happened because you…” he trailed off as tears began to well up in his eyes. “You… you died.”

Otto stared at him in disbelief. He couldn’t be dead, he was here now. A solid form, always had been. “I don’t understand.”

Awsten’s sighed and started picking at his nail polish. “You did. You slipped and fell and... died.”

“But how am I here?”

“Before I tell you, don’t get mad at me because I know we said we’d never actually do it but-”

“You did the resurrection thing?!” Otto exclaimed.

“Shhhh yes, ok. But you said you wouldn’t get mad.” 

Otto placed his head in his hands, trying to take in everything he’d just been told. He was meant to be dead right now! “ _ Why though?”  _ he thought.

“Ok, but that doesn’t explain the candle, or the necklace, or the glowing.”

Awsten waved his hand, dismissively “Those were just parts of the ritual.”

“So what about the blood?”

Awsten was hoping he’d forgotten about that. There was silence once again, as he figured out what to say.  _ “Oh fuck, how am I going to explain that I’ve literally KILLED people for him?” _

After much deliberation on how to begin explaining, Awsten held his hands out for Otto to look at them. Both of Awsten’s palms were covered in an array of scars from various slices marks he’d done for the ritual.

“When I first started performing the ritual, I used my own blood.” 

Otto took hold of Awsten’s hands and started running his fingers over the scars. “How many times did you do it?”

“It stopped working by the time we started touring for Double Dare. So roughly 48 times.”

Otto looked at Awsten, a sad look in both their eyes. “What then?”

Awsten let out a large sigh, and his face scrunched up as he tried not to cry. He couldn’t even look in Otto’s direction. “It was the only thing that would work.”

Otto’s body froze and all colour drained from his face. “ _ No no no.”  _ He pulled his hands away from Awsten, and shuffled back on the bed a bit. “Please don’t tell me you-“ Awsten nodded.

“I had to stop wearing the necklaces because I collected too many feet. One foot for one victim.” He pulled his knees to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them.

“You’re a fucking monster!” Otto stood up off the bed.

“Shhh keep your voice d-“

“Don’t tell me to be quiet.” He was now pacing around the room. “How the heck am I meant to react to my best friend saying he’s killed people?? Just accept it? And- and for what?”

“For you! I love you and I couldn’t let you go! Not permanently, at least.”

Otto stopped pacing, “What do you mean, for me?”

“I’d only just gotten you back, I couldn’t let you die. You’re my best friend, and you had your whole life ahead of you!” He shuffled off the bed and walked over to Otto, who was frozen in place, fear plastered all over his face. “I did everything I could. And I can’t let you die now, you mean too much to so many people. Including me.”

The two of them stood inches away from each other.  _ “Everything about this reads like a cheesy romcom.”  _ Otto thought, as his brain finally came back online.

Awsten placed his head over Otto’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around him.  _ “Yep, definitely a teen romcom.”  _ He returned the hug.

“I’ve been looking for another solution,” Awsten said, “I don’t want to keep doing this for the rest of our lives. I make myself sick with worry that I’m going to get caught, and that this will all be for nothing.”

Everything had finally sunk in for Otto, as Awsten could feel his shoulder starting to get wet. “I don’t want to die.”

“I know, we’re gonna find a solution, ok?” Otto nodded in response. “You can’t tell anyone though.”

“Not even Geoff and Jawn?”

“Not even Geoff and Jawn.” Awsten echoed. “The less people that know, the better.”

“Ok, yeah.”

After a few minutes, the two detangled, and Awsten went back over to his bed to settle in for the night. Otto followed him and sat down on the edge of the bed, completey shaken- it was something Awsten had never seen before. “Everything ok?”

Otto shook his head, and turned back to face Awsten. “C’mon.” Awsten made slight grabby hands towards him, and Otto lay down at his side. Everything about the situation was both weirdly awkward yet intimate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @average-human-being
> 
> Again, thank you so much to Alexis (@blackcloudbyjuly) for bringing the concept to me, and letting me write a fic based on it! I had so much writing this!!
> 
> They also wrote a fic based on the same concept, please check it out because it’s amazing!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> I hope you stick around for future chapters.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @average-human-being


End file.
